NEW PHASE BEGINS FOR CASTANEDA

Chula Vista council member terms out, looks at Assembly

CHULA VISTA  Just days after finishing out his City Council tenure with a few final words to Chula Vista residents at a Dec. 4 ceremony, Steve Castaneda was meeting with politicians in Sacramento to plan his next move.

The 53-year-old now-former councilman wasted no time putting in his bid for California Assemblyman Ben Hueso’s 80th District seat, should Hueso win the springtime special election for a state Senate seat being vacated by San Diego Democrat Juan Vargas. If Hueso wins, a special election would be held for his seat sometime in the summer.

“Even though the election is not even set yet, you’ve gotta get moving and get started early,” Castaneda told U-T San Diego.

The district includes portions of Chula Vista, National City, Imperial Beach, San Ysidro and southern San Diego.

Castaneda, a Democrat who was termed out after two four-year terms on the City Council, would be up against Democratic labor leader Lorena Gonzalez, who last week announced her own plans to run for Hueso’s seat.

The seasoned policymaker is not intimidated by the competition, though. He believes his experience in local government will serve him well in the campaign.

“I’m sure we’ll cross paths both in South County and in Sacramento, I look forward to a good campaign from her and myself, and I hope the election yields itself a representative that the voters will be very happy with,” he said.

Before serving on the City Council, Castaneda spent time on the Planning Commission, the Mobile Home Rent Review Commission and the Resource Conservation Commission, among other boards and commissions. Before that, he helped his brother, Robert Castaneda, run an election campaign in San Diego and then was hired by then-San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts, whom he worked with for eight years. In his private life, he runs an economic development and transportation consulting firm called PRM.

He has learned a lot in his years working for local governments, he said, and gained experience in a couple of critical areas: direct familiarity with the challenges of local agencies and municipalities, as well as with the fiscal challenges that government agencies are facing statewide.

“The state is much bigger, of course, and the issues are different, and the challenges are much more severe, but I think somebody coming from a background of experience like I do can bring a lot to the table,” he said.

He is proud of his role in reforming pension plans for Chula Vista employees, which helped in his and other council members’ efforts to tighten the city budget to balance out revenue shortfalls in recent years.

In his parting speech at City Council earlier this month before turning the council seat over to former Assemblywoman Mary Salas, both his predecessor and successor, he reflected on other accomplishments:

• Approval to decommission the South Bay Power Plant

• The completed construction of City Hall

• Installation of the South Bay Expressway to reduce congestion on surface streets and highways while providing greater access to shopping and other assets in eastern Chula Vista